The Right Person in the Right Place
Bohlender provides stability for a young roster
Mike Brohard
People are going to look at what the team doesn’t have. What it lost. Jen Fisher understands why.
Colorado State’s softball coach led a senior-dominated squad a season ago, and the brunt of those starters are gone. Filling in the gaps are 10 freshmen new to the roster, 13 in total including the redshirts. There are four total sophomore, matching the number of seniors, though Jordan West is considered one by teammates due to her tenure.
There are 675 career at-bats on the roster. The Rams graduated 202 innings pitched.
In short, inexperience rules the day at the moment. And in this moment, Fisher sees a guiding light.
A player with experience, playing the perfect position to lead. To guide. To calm. To say the right thing at the right time.
Catcher Brooke Bohlender.
“I think her position lends itself to that. She’s pretty steady, and she’s kind of closet competitive,” Fisher said of her backstop. “It really comes out in her in the heat of the moment. She doesn’t get too up or down for big moments. I think that’s a good role for her, and we need that.”
Bohlender, a career .297 hitters who is coming off a .302 campaign where she started 42 of 43 games, owns 300 of those career at-bats – 44.4 percent. Bohlender, with 101 career starts behind the dish, has allowed just five passed balls in her career, but not a single one last year.
That’s important, as Reagan Wick and Giselle Bentley – the leaders in the clubhouse to be the primary arms in the circle – tossed a combined 81 innings last season. Or less than what Danielle Serna did – as the team’s second arm.
A young pitcher wants a bit of pop of the fastball, a tantalizing changeup. They also need a catcher in their corner.
“I think it’s great. Just with the numbers … that’s amazing. I think it says something coming from a catcher who is behind the plate, watching every single pitch, one of our top hitters, you’re experiencing all of it,” Wick said. “She’s so experienced behind the plate. I love having her back there. She’s one of the most encouraging people on the team.
“I appreciate a lot about her. She trusts I know how to handle things in the circle. She trusted me a lot as a freshman. She’d say, ‘hey, you’ve got it, I know you can do it.’ She believed a lot in me. She knows I’m going to hit a spot as best I can. If I cross her up on accident, it’s no worries. She frames the hell out of every pitch, which is amazing. She’s a huge part of all of our strikes we get as pitchers. She’s a wall behind the plate.”
Based on resume, Bohlender knew she’d come back this season as the primary catcher. She’s earned the spot. Her bat will be needed in the lineup, as always. In the offseason, another role dawned on her. One which would be new.
A leader. She realized her position put her in a prime spot to be effective.
“I think it hit me this summer. The seniors and I, we did a senior trip, and we talked a lot about how we were going to deal with the incoming freshmen and bring the team together and be successful with such a young team,” Bohlender said. “Personally, I thought a lot about how I could step up as a leader and I could use what the seniors before taught me, how they welcomed me as a freshman and helped me feel comfortable as a freshman. I thought a lot about that. In the fall, I knew I was going to have to work hard to get this team together with 10 freshmen. It’s a young team.
“I think as a catcher I definitely have a bigger role and I’m in a better position to do just that – be a better leader on and off the field. As a catcher, you’re managing so many things at once, and I think people expect that from you outside of softball. When we’re on the field, I’m already commanding the field, so if I can do it from a leadership standpoint as well, it will be more effective all around.”
She can lean on her experiences from her debut season, one which went much differently than planned for the Poudre High School grad. She was more than just a local girl; she was already part of the Colorado State family.
Her mother, Kristi Bohlender, is one of the most universally loved and respected people on campus. The university’s senior associate vice president of university advancement and the executive director of the alumni association, Kristi graduated as a Ram and has worked on campus since 1995, spending 10 years in the athletic department, the last decade in her current role.
It actually gave Brooke a bit of pause before signing – she didn’t want people to think her family ties landed her a scholarship; the fact mom was no longer in athletics helped. The dream was already there. She figures she was in fifth grade the first time she attended a softball game and loved it. By high school, she was still in the crowd but envisioning herself in uniform. In the end, both she and Fisher realized Colorado State was a perfect fit for her.
I’ve just tried to be consistent. Maybe that can help this team be level-headed this season. I can be the calming factor when things get crazy, or we’re traveling a bunch. I want to be that calming presence.Brooke Bohlender
Her freshman fall semester proved as much, and nobody has questioned Brooke’s role since.
“We thought we were going to redshirt her when she signed,” Fisher said. “She had a really good summer leading up to college, and she really hit very well all fall. We have our end-of-fall meeting, and she said, ‘I have one other question, am I going to redshirt?’
“We all laughed. I said, ‘I’m so sorry, I thought it was obvious you are playing.’”
Brooke has understood she’s been in a leadership role her whole career because working with the pitchers and setting the infield demands a voice. What she saw as the additive part was bringing the team together.
Team activities to promote bonding and building. Brooke’s personality helped make it an easy transition. Wick said Brooke brought an experienced voice to the proceedings, but she also supplied a trained ear. All feelings, all opinions were on the table. Nothing was discarded because of age or class standing. Her goal has always been unification over hierarchy.
“Her natural personality is to be kind of a goofball, honestly. She has a Troy Bohlender goofiness about her,” Fisher said, referring to Brooke’s dad. “Sometimes we take ourselves too seriously. I see it on road trips and in her interactions with teammates. She actually has a silliness about her which can help keep things light. For this team, we’re really going to need to understand, yes, we have a chance to go out and beat some teams, but our goals should be to keep improving.”
Fisher believes the youth is energizing to Brooke. It’s also a trip down memory lane.
She has the ability to say the right thing to the right person at the right time. When Wick is pitching, encouragement is at the forefront. With Bentley, a firmer tone works better. It’s learning who your teammates are and what motivates them. For her, it’s a learned behavior which is vital considering the circumstances.
“I think that’s been apparent, even the first week of practice coming back from the spring. We’re going to need them,” Brooke said. “There are only two players who have played consistently. We’re going to need the freshmen, and if they have any doubt, any lack of confidence, it’s not going to be successful. That’s going to be the biggest thing, helping them become confident and play relaxed on the field.
“I was scared. I was playing with all juniors and seniors. I was successful, and I thought I played well because they did that for me. They put their arm around me and helped me feel confident in my abilities. I know that will help the freshmen, just from me being in their shoes.”
Shoes which she’s filled nicely throughout her years. She’s always been consistent, and she’s constantly improved. She’s never hit lower than .288 in a season, reaching .302 as a junior. Her slugging percentage has risen each year, and last season, she produced 12 extra-base hits, more than she had the prior two seasons combined.
Whatever the team needs, that’s what Wick expects Brooke to supply. She’s that person. And Brooke is happy to be that person. To be the Ram her squad can count on, game after game starting with the season-opening tournament, the New Mexico State Invitational, on Friday.
“She’s taken on a bigger leadership role because she knows we’re such a young team. She knows she has to communicate a lot more, especially with our infield,” Wick said. “I think she knows she can take more control of the game as a catcher out onto the entire field.
“It’s encouraging for me to have her. She just encourages me. You know how to get this next pitch, throw it like you know how.”
That’s who Fisher wants Brooke to be – the player she has been. They’ve both heard people wonder why Brooke doesn’t hit more home runs, particularly at 5-foot-10 and with a pretty swing. It hasn’t happened naturally, and the coach does not want the player to force the issue. As the coach noted, there is a fine line between aspiration and pressure.
The way this version of the Rams are constructed, Brooke needs to be Brooke, who is all she intends to be this season, with some slight variations. She may see a bit of time at a corner, just to get an extra bat into the lineup.
“As a catcher, you’re role on defense is so critical. You focus on that a ton,” she said. “I mean, hitting comes second. You want to be really good on defense, then you’re offense is going to do what you have to do.
“I’ve never played to be an outstanding player, a home run hitter. I’ve just tried to be consistent. Maybe that can help this team be level-headed this season. I can be the calming factor when things get crazy, or we’re traveling a bunch. I want to be that calming presence.”
Which, by the numbers, is exactly what the team needs, in exactly the position she can be herself most effectively.
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